The Family is of God

In primary this year the kids learned a new song called, "The Family Is of God" So, to make sure I am not the primary president looking like an idiot and not knowing the songs, I sing the songs from the program to Morgan when she goes to bed. The last several nights, this one has been hitting home for me. There's one particular line in it, that just gets me:

"God gave us families, to help us become what He wants us to be. This is how He shares His love, for the family is of God."

I just cannot describe how strongly I agree with this. I know the Lord gave us families not only to allow us to find the level of happiness we cannot get from any other source, but because as a family unit we can grow strong together. When President Bednar spoke to us in the Ensign last year, he talked about husbands and wives and our different roles. He said,

"By divine design, men and women are intended to progress together toward perfection and a fullness of glory. Because of their distinctive temperaments and capacities, males and females each bring to a marriage relationship unique perspectives and experiences. The man and the woman contribute differently but equally to a oneness and a unity that can be achieved in no other way. The man completes and perfects the woman and the woman completes and perfects the man as they learn from and mutually strengthen and bless each other. “Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord”

It seems like I have been thinking about the relationship between JD and I a lot lately, and all the thoughts have been accompanied by a lot of looking inward. As I have dissected our time together in my brain, I have realized there is one overwhelming need that I feel when it comes to JD:

I do not want to disappoint him.

Going back to President Bednar, I honestly feel like JD helps me to be whole, and his characteristics push me to be better, to "complete and perfect" myself, for him. When I find myself wanting to do something I know to be less than right, it is his hurt face I see. I don't ever want to be anything less than perfect for him.

And in turn, I have found that as I thoughtfully help JD, and he humbly accepts my expectations, he has turned from a bouncy returned missionary into the mature patriarch of our home.

When we live to complete each other, we grow into people we could never have been alone.

I hope as our children grow they will be able to see that this is what marriage is about. I hope that when they find themselves looking for an eternal companion, they are searching for someone who not only makes them happy, but makes them think, and makes them grow.

I know I found somebody who does that for me, and because of it, I couldn't be happier.